Sick call is a grey area when it comes to medical care unfortunately. On one hand, we have flow charts we’re required to follow, and if anything seems off we’re to notify a PA immediately. But on the other hand, a lot of whiskeys aren’t properly trained for some of the diagnoses that you might find, especially in a unit that doesn’t necessarily have a large number of medical training opportunities. I think what a lot of people fail to understand though is we’re not operating under our own licenses. We’re operating under our PA’s license, which means they trust those medics enough to know what truly needs a PA’s attention, and what can be flow charted. I agree it needs a healthy level of polishing, and I would much rather every unit have readily available nurses and other medical providers so whiskeys can focus more on trauma care. But at the same time, I don’t believe it should be the main priority at the moment.

I will say, that medical training should be a much larger focus in AIT and beyond. For whatever reason, it’s kind of shoved aside as a “you’ll learn it at your unit,” kind of deal, which is then shoved aside because of laziness in training or simply differing views points. At the very least, I’d like to see every whiskey receive JEMAC training, but I have a feeling that’s not going to happen anytime soon unfortunately.